This invention relates generally to parts review processes in a manufacturing environment, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for reviewing parts usage, assessing related risks, developing an action plan for non-preferred parts, and providing this information to developers and procurement parties over a communications network.
It is generally known in the manufacturing industry that a product is only as good as its collective components. In the early design phase of a product development cycle, design engineers are tasked with selecting the parts that will be incorporated into a product design. While the selections made by the designer may be technically sound, they may not always be the most cost effective from a financial standpoint because the designer is not privy to important business data such as cost rebates available from a particular supplier. Further, these part selections may not be the most pragmatic from a logistical standpoint since the designer is not equipped with the business skills or knowledge of a procurement specialist. Procurement specialists evaluate the business risks associated with part selection by examining various factors such as reliability, supplier technology and capability, availability, etc. However, procurement specialists are not generally knowledgeable about the technical or functional aspects of the parts or assemblies. As a result, there may be parts used by development that include some business and/or technical risks. Currently, there is no way for an enterprise to alert its development personnel of these risks and no capability to assess the action plans in order to minimize them. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method and system for reviewing parts usage, finding problems or risk parts, and defining the actions that should be taken to mitigate the risks.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to a method for facilitating a preferred parts plan for an enterprise over a computer network utilizing a parts review process tool. The method comprises: receiving a bill of material from a client system that includes a non-preferred part; storing the bill of material in a bill of material review database; periodically searching an extracting non-preferred parts records from the bill of material review database; importing the non-preferred parts records into a deviation database; notifying a division representative assigned to the non-preferred parts records along with a link to a site questionnaire;
receiving answers to the site questionnaire; sending a notice to an evaluation team including a request to evaluate non-preferred parts usage relating to the non-preferred parts; evaluating risk factors associated with the non-preferred parts usage; developing an action plan to mitigate risks in using the non-preferred parts; developing a preferred parts strategy for use in minimizing requests to use non-preferred parts; and communicating the preferred parts strategy over a computer network to enterprise client systems.